A new USC-led study provides the first nationwide picture of who knows about, carries, and uses naloxone to reverse deadly opioid overdoses. Mireille Jacobson, professor of gerontology at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and a senior fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, said the study was conducted to address the lack of comprehensive data on access to the lifesaving medication and eventually to support work on how it affects the number of deaths attributed to opioid overdoses in the U.S.

The combination of prescribed central nervous system stimulants, such as drugs that relieve ADHD symptoms, with prescribed opioid medications is associated with a pattern of escalating opioid intake, a new study has found.

People in their late teens and early 20s may be more sensitive to nicotine and more susceptible to nicotine addiction than middle aged adults, according to a new study in mice from researchers in the Penn State Department of Biobehavioral Health. The results provide evidence that the effects of drugs on the body — both medication and misused substances — change over the lifespan in ways that clinicians and researchers need to consider when developing and prescribing treatments, the researchers said.

The use of stigmatizing terminology in National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded grant abstracts has decreased by over half since 2013.

A new mathematical model sheds light on how the brain processes different cues, such as sights and sounds, during decision making. The findings from Princeton neuroscientists may one day improve how brain circuits go awry in neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s, and could help artificial brains, like Alexa or self-driving car technology, more helpful.